Installing or repairing a shingled roof is generally a labor-intensive process. Numerous courses of shingles generally need to be installed across all or a portion of the surface area of the roof, and such installation needs to be accomplished according to sound and established roofing methods, with the courses laid on the surface area in the appropriate sequential order.
In addition, the environment and conditions in which roofers must install such roofs are often difficult. For example, the roofer must constantly adapt his or her efforts to take account of the pitch of the roof surface on which he or she is working. Movement of the roofer may also be constrained by safety equipment used during the roofing process. On relatively warm days, the roofing surface it self becomes hot not only to kneel on, but also to come in contact with. Furthermore, the outer surfaces of shingles tend to be coarse and thus abrade the roofer's skin in the course of performing roofing activities, unless suitable precautions are taken by the roofer.
Roofing activities often also present logistical challenges. In particular, packages of shingles and other roofing materials need to be transported to the roofing surface and made readily accessible to the roofers in an efficient manner, so work can likewise be performed efficiently. The pitch of the roof complicates the delivery and storage of roofing materials in close proximity to the roofer. Stacks of shingles or other planar roofing materials cannot merely be placed on a pitched roofing surface because they are prone to slide off the roof onto the ground below. Such falling materials, at a minimum, would cause a delay in the project as the materials are retrieved. In addition, such mishaps may damage the roofing materials themselves, as well as objects or persons struck by the falling materials.
Prior art attempts to solve some of these problems have had mixed results. For example, in order to create suitable storage areas for shingles and other planar roofing materials on the roof, roofers generally nail together boards on an ad hoc basis to create a shelf-like structure. Such shelf-like structure is generally nailed into the roof surface itself in order to hold it in position, and the shelf-like structure may include a vertically extending lip on the downward edge of the shelf structure to keep the roofing materials from sliding. Alternately, the shelf may be provided with a vertical "leg" which counteracts the pitch of the roof and creates a more horizontal surface on the shelf-like structure to hold the shingles in place.
The above-outlined approach suffers from various disadvantages, chief among them being the need to affix the shelf-like structure by nailing it into the very roof which is being installed or repaired. The apertures formed in the roof and other damages potentially caused by attaching such an ad hoc structure are obviously undesirable. In addition, as the roofers are required to move to different areas on the surface of the roof, they must either walk to the shelf-like structure attached to the roof, or remove it and reattach it at a more convenient location, again by nailing it into position. The roofer is thus required to undergo the inconvenience and risk of repeatedly crawling or walking back and forth between his or her work site and the area where the materials are stored, or the roofer must take the time to repeatedly remove and reattach the ad hoc shelf-like structure.
Another attempt at solving the above-outlined challenges associated with roofing involves products known as the Shingle Board and the Kneeling Board, currently manufactured by Cougar Paws, Inc., of Woodbridge, Va. These solutions suffer from their own drawbacks and disadvantages. For example, both of these items are relatively large, heavy and complex structures making them relatively expensive to manufacture and purchase, and relatively unwieldy to hoist to the roofing surface itself and move about thereafter.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus which is relatively lightweight so that it can be readily hoisted to the roof surface and moved about on such a surface thereafter.
There is a need for such apparatus to protect the roofer from heat and abrasion of his knees and other body parts which come regularly into contact with the roof during the installation process. There is a further need for such apparatus to keep bundles of shingles and other planar roofing materials from sliding off the roof, and there is an associated need for such device to be easily moved from one location to another on the roofing surface.
There is still further need for an apparatus which can be used without damaging the surface of the shingles and without otherwise compromising the integrity of the roof.